The Health Professionals Follow-Up Study (HPFS) began in 1986. The purpose of the study is to evaluate a series of hypotheses about men's health relating nutritional factors to the incidence of serious illnesses, such as cancer, heart disease, and other vascular diseases. This all-male study is designed to complement the all-female Nurses' Health Study, which examines similar hypotheses.

The HPFS is sponsored by the Harvard School of Public Health and is funded by the National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute and National Cancer Institute. In the beginning, Walter Willett, Principal Investigator, Meir Stampfer, and colleagues enlisted 51,529 men in health professions to participate in the study. This group is composed of 29,683 dentists, 4,185 pharmacists, 3,745 optometrists, 2,220 osteopath physicians, 1,600 podiatrists, and 10,098 veterinarians. Among the study participants are 531 African-Americans and 877 Asian-Americans.

Every two years, members of the study receive questionnaires with questions about diseases and health-related topics like smoking, physical activity, and medications taken. The questionnaires that ask detailed dietary information are administered in four-year intervals.Since its inception, more than 100 published research article/s have been made available.

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